1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driver monitoring apparatus, a driver monitoring method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of various possible traffic accidents is human error caused by a decrease in the driver's concentration. Human errors frequently occur when, for example, the driver takes an action other than driving operation, such as conversation or manipulation of a vehicle-mounted device, or the driver's concentration on driving drops due to, for example, fatigue or sleepiness.
The driver by himself cannot easily prevent a drop in concentration caused by fatigue or sleepiness. In view of this, various technologies are proposed that detect the driver's states typified by drowsiness. For example, a technology is known that analyzes images, obtained by photography, of the driver's face and infers the driver's state. In a conventional recognition technology that uses an in-vehicle camera, however, precision in the detection of the driver's state has sometimes been lowered by ambient light, such as street lamp light, which causes variations in illumination. A related technique is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4728432.
The present disclosure addresses the above situation with an object of reducing a decrease, caused by ambient light, in precision with which the driver's state is detected.